


Pit of Vipers

by PailetteHazel



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Corruption, Deceit is a manipulative snek, Deceit’s room, Gen, Snakes, Two of them pass out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-05 05:52:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14610888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PailetteHazel/pseuds/PailetteHazel
Summary: Roman asks the others to help him with something in his room. It turns out the room holds a few nasty suprises.





	1. Chapter 1

I am really, terribly sorry!" Thomas, Patton, Logan and Virgil turned towards Roman, who had been uncharacteristically late for the video. “Roman!" Patton greeted him. "Glad you're here, kiddo!” "Yes, but you are very late. Were you hindered?" Logan asked, looking slightly over his glasses. "Uh, yes!" Roman raked through his hair. “Something went out of control in my room." 

"And I hope it's fixed now? We cannot have any rampant daydreams." Logan's concern was met with a guilty look from the fanciful side. Thomas interfered. "Wait, rampant daydreams?" He looked back and forth between the sides. "Yes." Logan sighed. "Sometimes the magic in the mindspace spirals out of control, especially when some aspects like to experiment with it.”

Roman made some offended sounds. "I'm always careful! It's just that this time, uh..' He looked at his feet. "I can't fix it on my own..” He got a piercing look from Virgil, who had been silent so far. "What? What do you mean by that?” Roman gritted his teeth slightly in discomfort. "How about we, erm, go to my room and get it under control again? After all..”

He turned to Thomas. “It's in your mind, Thomas, you are the most powerful in the mindspace.” Thomas looked at the other sides. Logan looked slightly dissapointed. Patton looked worried and Virgil, Virgil was staring at Roman. "We only enter our rooms together, with all of us in case of emergency." He reminded the fanciful side. Roman made a whining noise in return.

Thomas himself was actually very curious about what Roman's room would look like. A kingdom? A stage? A tower filled with poems? Alright." He said. "We're going to your room, Roman. We won't stay long.' He threw a reassuring glance at his anxious side. Roman grinned broadly and clapped his hands together. "Fantastic! This will be grand! 

They all gasped as each of the sides popped up in Roman's room. It was colored in red and gold, just as expected and Patton sqealed at the sight of the royal, luxerous curtains. Logan was surrounded by large collection of books and paper, and when he picked one of the pieces up, he realised they were fairytales and romantic poems. He was immediately fascinated. 

Virgil hunched a little. He felt a bit on edge, because of the bright lights and the orchestral music that seemed to come from nowhere. Thomas himself smiled warmly as he looked around, open to be indulged into this room's positive emotions. He looked back at Roman, who excitedly jumped back and forth, obviously in his element. “Wow, your room is so beautiful, Roman!" Thomas complimented the fanciful side, who looked at him with a beaming smile. "Yes, indeed!" Roman gestured around. "It's all of your hopes, dreams and Creativity, so what did you expect?”

“Truely fit for a prince..” Thomas muttered. Virgil frowned and jerked his head up slightly. "Yeah, although I'd have expected a few more Disney posters! Didn't you say you owned like, one hundred of those?" "Yeah, I used to." Roman sighed. "But I burned them.”

Everyone stopped, shocked by Roman's sudden confession. Virgil's thoughts were screaming at him, saying that something was very, very wrong. "You.. burned them?" Patton asked, uncertain. “Oh yeah!" The royal answered, seemingly unaware of his words’ impact. "Disney is for kids after all. Thomas has been working on becoming an adult, hasn't he? That doesn't fit with such childish entertainment.”

Thomas, who had been flabbergasted, glanced at Virgil and back at Roman. "But, you're the prince, Roman! How could you...” “Because he isn't! This isn't Roman!" Logan suddenly shouted, dropping the grim fairytales he'd been observing. He took a deep breath, obviously blaming himself for being distracted so easily. 

Thomas and the others snapped their gazes back to Roman, whose bright smile had turned into a cold smirk. "Well, that took you longer than expected..” With a snap of his fingers the room started to blur, and melt into something much darker. Virgil was panicking: they needed to get out, out OUT. He heard Thomas and Patton yell, but as much as he tried to get them all back, nothing worked. They were trapped. He looked up at Roman again- no, not Roman, although the deceitful side was still wearing his face. "Change back!" Virgil snapped at him. "Oh, but it's so much fun playing a prince!" Deceit answered, gesturing at his golden embroidery. "And besides, you deserve nothing less than a royal welcome in my room!


	2. Chapter 2

"Deceit." Thomas spoke, with a resentful tone in his voice. "What do you want?" The room went dark, except for Deceit and Thomas's spot. Like two spotlights, focused on the lead actors in a play. Virgil quickly looked back and forth, and wanted to yell at Thomas to get them out, but his hand slapped to his mouth. 

Thomas didn't even notice, focused on the deceitful side, who still had a confident smirk. "I didn't want to take control! But you are in my room now, and you cannot leave without my permission..” A muffled cry came from Logan's side of the room, as he too was silenced. Virgil groaned and tried to rip his hand away when he felt something strange..

The black smoke creeping into the room took solid form around his feet and legs and tightened their grip, almost like vines.. no, like snakes. He swatted at them with his free hand. Wrong idea, he realised immediately as they sticked to his arm and kept it in place. His breathing went quicker and he squirmed, still unable to make a noise to alert Thomas. 

The anxious side jerked his head up and suddenly realised that the black shadows were lies, lies Thomas believed. It was the power the host of the mindspace gave Deceit. Virgil inhaled sharply, but his vision became.. blurry. No! He had to stay awake! But those lies.. They seemed to whisper of peace and calm. Virgil closed his eyes..

Logan registered a loud thump in the darkness to his right, and in alarm he realised the room was working its effects. He leaned closer to the stairs in an effort to find Virgil in the dark. He felt the lies getting tighter, and had to remind himself he had to breathe calmly. Even though the logical side could only see the shadow on the floor, he realised Virgil had passed out. A quick and awful deduction popped up in his thoughts: Lies soothe and calm Anxiety.

The logical side looked at his own bounds. Lies hide, disable and restrain Logic. With his free hand, he felt his cheekbones and his breath hitched. Scales. His prediction he'd hoped would be false. Just like in Virgil's room, the longer they stayed the more they would be corrupted. And Logan didn't want to imagine what would happen then, to them or Thomas.

He felt his own thoughts become clouded by the poison in the air. Thomas, not realising that he was still the most powerful in his own mind, was being manipulated by his Deceit, unaware of the corrupting effects of the room.

Morality. 

It was like a lighthouse in Logan's quickly wavering dark and stormy thoughts. What did the lies do to Morality? Patton represented, among other things, Thomas conscience. He'd be bugged, but he was the only one who could resist them and warn Thomas. But where was he? Logan squinted into the darkness across the room, blinking again as he tried to focus. But even though he was breathing calmly, he felt the lies numbing his head and with a sigh he collapsed as well.


	3. Chapter 3

"Get off." Patton whispered, slowly freeing himself from the vipers attempting to hold him down. They weren't as creepy as spiders, but they were certainly up there. Deceit was so engulfed in this new kind of control he thought he possessed, he didn't notice. 

But Patton had quickly realised the lying side's plan: Distracting Thomas long enough for his room to corrupt the other sides. He didn't know why, but the lies seemed to get to him less than the others. He had to think of a rescue plan. 

The moral side knew that time was running out, as the other two had collapsed already. Now or never: distract the distractor. "Heey, Thomas!" Patton managed to sound chipper. Both Thomas and Deceit turned to him, Deceit with slight confusion and frustration as to why the moral side hadn't been corrupted yet. 

Patton forced a smile on his face as Thomas looked at him, for a moment he wasn't focused on Deceit. Patton saw he noticed the smoke, and the absence of the other two. “Patton! I.. What is happening?" 

Deceit narrowed his eyes and raised his hand to shut him off "Staying in one room for so long ain't good, kiddo! To get out again you will have to get creative!" And with a slap Patton's hand went against his mouth, preventing him from saying anything else. But he remained looking at Thomas. "Creative.." Thomas repeated as his eyes grew bigger in realisation. "Of course, Roman!”

Deceit clenched his fists. "Roman can't come here! This is my room, and you're under my control!" His threatening words however, were proven false when the creative side popped up right beside him. "Roman!" Thomas gasped in relief. Patton waved excitedly with his free hand.

“By the wings of Nike, what’s going on here?” Princey looked around the room before his eyes settled on Deceit, who still resembled the fanciful side. “This is your room? It looks like everyone has been having lots of fun without me!” Before Deceit could make a sound of protest, he was suprised by the cold metal of a conjured sword against his chest. With a soft groan he shapeshifted back into his usual form.

“Roman!” Thomas called him. “Do you know how we can get out of here?” He nervously looked at Patton who gasped for air again, and glanced at the spots where the other two were supposed to stand. Roman looked at his host. “Not all of you at once! Only you are powerful enough to leave and enter a room with all sides, Thomas!” 

The host frowned. “But Deceit-“ “Exactly. That’s his name.” Roman looked at the snakefaced side again. Thomas nodded quickly and concentrated, hoping it wouldn’t be too late.


	4. Chapter 4

Thomas gasped as he felt himself rising up in his living room again. To his left, he noticed the familiar blue polo of Patton appear. Roman rose up in front of the tv, with his sword still pointing at Deceit.

Thomas turned to the other side of the room, only to notice that Virgil and Logan weren’t there. “Wait, where are..” He looked back at Deceit, who had a small smirk around his lips. 

“They won’t bother you anymore!” Deceit said, irritatingly confident. “I just did what you said, Thomas. They are hidden, now” Patton gasped, and looked like he was ready to physically fight the dark side. “What do you mean?” Thomas asked uncertain. “When did I... ever say anything like that?”

Deceit huffed, and gestured to the empty spots across the room. “Didn’t you say Logan was your least favorite?” He recalled, then mimicked Thomas’ voice. “Only because of how much he talks.” Thomas froze, and held his breath. Deceit took this as his cue to continue. “And Virgil! He just stands there and.. grimaces?”

Patton looked back and forth, between Thomas and Deceit. “Thomas, that’s not true, right?” “I.. I said those things.” Thomas confessed. “But I never meant for something like this to happen! Patton-“ He turned to his moral side, with fear in his eyes. “You know I love every one of you! How can we get them back?”

Roman gasped. “Thomas, it’s the lies! They keep them hidden!” He tightened his grip on his sword. Patton nodded quickly as he came to the same conclusion. “And to defeat them, you need to tell the truth, Thomas! What is the truth about Logan, and Virgil? What do you believe?”

“No-“ A panicked yelp was cut off, as Deceit looked with frightened eyes at Roman’s sword that had moved to his throat now. “Don’t make a sound, Mr.Hyde.” Roman hissed.

Thomas took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

“Logan. I know he talks a lot, but he is so important. He’s passionate. He’s not only my logical thought, but also my curiousity. He makes me able to see the wonders of the world I live in.”

A soft grunt was heard. Deceit? Thomas clenched his fists. “And Virgil.. oh, Virgil is needed. Necessary. He protects me against dangers I wouldn’t even have thought about otherwise. He is the common sense I need. I might not always have treated him as such, but he truly is part of this family.”

“Virgil! Logan!” Thomas heard Patton shout. He opened his eyes again, and sure enough: the two left brain sides had appeared in their spots again, altough they still looked a bit dazed.

Thomas felt the relief wash over him. “What the hell happened..” Virgil muttered. Logan pushed up his glasses as he looked around the room. “Why do you have your sword drawn, Roman?” Everyone looked back at Roman’s corner of the room. The prince was pointing at nothing: Deceit had used the distraction to disappear.

————

And as for every one of you out there,” Thomas turned to the camera, smiling again. “Sometimes, you can be confused by, or scared of the truth. You start lying to yourself, and you start to believe those lies as a way to not be confronted with reality.” He paused. “And that is very harmful, for you and for others.” 

He took a deep breath as he continued. “When that happens, it’s important to remind yourself of the truth, and realise things might not be as bad as you thought. Be honest, and be brave to be vunerable to others. Tell them, how you really feel.” His kind smile broadened. “Stay safe. And take it easy, guys, gals and nonbinary pals! Peace out!”

————

“So.. How’d you know it wasn’t me?” Roman had his arms crossed. Logan pushed his glasses up slightly. “Well I have to admit he had us fooled at first, but then Virgil noticed the lack of Disney posters in the room.” Patton nodded, and Virgil shrugged. “Yeah.. I felt on edge already but when he said he’d burned them-“ 

Roman let out a horrified shriek. “He said he did whAT?!?” “Roman, it’s just what he said, I don’t think he really-“ Roman didn’t listen to Logan’s reasoning and conjured his sword instead. He sank down with a yell.

“Roman, no!” Patton followed him quickly, sinking down as well. Logan shaked his head and sighed. Virgil stifled a chuckle.


End file.
